eXistenZ

1999

Review

Allegra Geller [Jennifer Jason Leigh], world famous VR game
designer, is the target of an assassin during her demo of her new
game, eXistenZ. She goes on the run with Ted Pikul [Jude Law] and they
both enter the game to check whether it was damaged in the attack.
This leads to a series of bizarre, and, this being a David Cronenberg
film, sometimes gross, but always imaginative, scenarios.

The film captures very well what I imagine being in a full immersion
VR game would be like -- the glitches, the discontinuities, the
confusing story lines, the occasional disorienting non-reality. The
whole theme of distinguishing "real" reality from merely
virtual reality, and how one ought to behave in each, is done well.
Although the penultimate "twist" is obvious from the
beginning, the ultimate twist did take me by surprise, and the last
line is brilliant.